Paying Attention to Fast Starts

Tom Castrovince urges us to “Pay Attention to These Fast Starts” — players and teams who are hot early in ways that make them extra interesting for the rest of the season.  Castrovince’s list has 15 entries. Guess how many are EFLers.

 

Old Detroit: DNP, 1 – 1. .263, .300, .526;  7 ip, 4 er.    Castrovince starts his list of eye-popping starts with Nelson Cruz’ 6 homers in last 5 games (and four losses).  Then comes Joey Votto, who’s been gone so long from the EFL you probably forgot all about him.  Then comes the Atlanta Braves and then…   Alex Guerrero!  With his 5 hits in 12 at bats, two homers and a double, Alex has finally “emerged as a legit Major League piece.”  This is great news for the Wolverines!  Except… ummm… at the moment he’s entirely inactive on the Old Detroit roster.  Well.  This is embarrassing.

Peshastin: W 0, L 1; 0 – 1.  .235 .316, .471;  8 ip, 5 er.  Pear fans will have to be content with Joey Votto from Castrovince’s list, since he doesn’t mention any of the current Peshastin team. He might have mentioned Michael Taylor, who not only has 2 homers and a double, he’s got two more doubles, a triple, and — something Guerrero hasn’t even begun to dream of, apparently — three walks!  Taylor’s line so far:  .282, .333, .564 for an OPS of .897 over 42 plate appearances.

Portland: DNP, 3 – 3. .208, .208, .2929; 6.7 ip, 1 er   .  For a while there last year it seemed to me like the Rosebuds were embarrassed to have Kevin Kiermaier on their roster.  He was offered to the Wolverines at least twice, but we declined.  This may have been foolish: Kiermaier sports a 1.117 OPS so far.  Castrovince says he’s cut his strikeout rate almost in half this season from a 19.5% to 10.7%.

Cottage: DNP, 0 – 0. .231, .259, .538; 0 ip, 0 er.   The Cheese are doubly represented in Castrovince’s top 15.  First, he mentions “Jorge Soler’s flair”: .310, .382, .586. Then he goes directly from that blinding brightness to Athletics’ starting pitching, especially the cooler, partly cloudy Sonny Gray (0.59 ERA).  And of course, had he one millimeter more of column space to spare, he surely would have discussed the brilliance of Arismendy Alcantara.

Haviland: W 1, L (-1),  1 – (-9). .176, .333, .529; 7 ip, 0 er.  No one’s hot in Haviland, according to Castrovince.  Not Chris Archer, despite his 7 scoreless innings last night and his season ERA of 1.37.  Not Jake Lamb (.409, .480, .682).  Not across the diamond with Paul Goldschmidt (.344, .447, .656).  Not at short with Alcides Escobar, who must be slumping at .412, .444, .500.  Not Steven Souza with his .276, .382, .517 line.

 Kaline:  W (-1), L 1; 1 – 5.  .182 .217, .318;  10.7 ip, 8 er.   Castrovince doesn’t explicitly mention any Drive, but he does talk about “the new-look Braves.”  It’s obvious to whom that refers:  Jace Peterson, of course (although Jace’s .477 OPS gives the wrong first impression, admittedly).

Canberra: L, 4 – 7.   .163, .375, .333 in 6 AB; 2.0 ip, 0 er. I was among the many who wondered what the big deal was over Yonder Alonso in the free agent draft. What had he ever done?  The proper answer:  who cares?  He’s batting .355, .459, .516 now, good enough to make Castrovince sit up and take notice!

Alonso is not the only notable Kangaroo fast-starter, according to Castrovince.  He also likes what he calls “The Shane Greene Machine.”  And here’s a telling passage:

“Scouts I spoke with in Spring Training insisted Greene was one of the winter’s savvier pickups.”

Ok, Ok, Ryan, we all take it all back.  You are one of the winter’s savviest picker-uppers, and we’re all ashamed of doubting you.

Flint Hill:  W 1, L (-1),   1 – 0.   .300, .300, .700 (over 10 AB, as you could probably tell); 0 ip, 0 er.   . The brightest starts don’t all belong to raw upstarts, the prime counterexample being Boston’s Dustin Pedroia, currently in his 9th EFL season and sporting a .300, .391, .575 batting line.

Pittsburgh: W (-1), L 1; 1 – 3. .500, .500, .500; 6 ip, 5 er.       The Alleghenys are getting awfully cozy down there in the cellar.  They apparently need no heat, which is a good thing because,  according to Castellanos, they don’t have any.  Not even Mike Trout, sadly, who this season can only manage a .438, .514, .594 line.

In case you guessed earlier how many EFL’ers made Castrovince’s list of 15 hot people to watch:  the answer is 8,  assuming the “new look Braves” means “Jace Peterson”, as I’ve suggested.